MOTORISTS travelling along the M4 around the Newport area today - Friday, July 1 - have endured a significant amount of disruption.

But, while broken down vehicles and even crashes are a fairly regular occurrence, both incidents which caused strife to journeys today were less common.

Firstly, came the traffic woes to eastbound travellers.

At around 12.30pm, Traffic South Wales reported that an “abnormal load” was being escorted along the M4 eastbound near junction 29 for Castleton.

While the nature of the vehicle was not specified, it typically relates to either a lorry carrying something especially large or heavy, and as such requires a lead and tail car to travel in convoy.

What’s more, additional speed restrictions can also limit how quickly such vehicles can move.

As a result of this, significant delays were caused in this area, with motorists urged to allow for extra time to complete journeys.

But, while the vehicle would soon depart the motorway for Newport's SDR, a few miles away, yet more disruption was starting.

Over on the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge at 12.50pm, Highways England reported that two lanes were closed westbound between junctions 22 and 23, to allow for emergency repair work to be carried out.

It was confirmed that the road surface needed repairing, and was causing four miles of congestion on approach.

Traffic South Wales described this as “emergency pot hole repairs”.

It is understood that this caused 50 minutes of delays for motorists.

The road has since been fully reopened, though it is anticipated that residual delays will continue long into the afternoon, with the potential to merge with rush hour traffic too.